Do you use Instagram filters? Do you wonder how they work and who makes them? Well, one of the people behind them is Maria Than. Maria creates lots of intricate filters on her Instagram account, like the one below.
But, Maria also does so much more! She’s a fellow at the Royal Society of the Arts. A member of the Digital Maker Collective. An associate lecturer at UAL. The Digital Designer at the Child Rights International network. She’s also the co-founder of Ricebox Studios!
Outside of the work she does, Maria loves watching movies. She also enjoys listening to music – especially original soundtracks!
Ricebox Studios
Ricebox Studios is a creative tech and design studio. They focus on using creative tech for social good. You can see an example of this in their period positivity campaign. Here, filters bring awareness to period symptoms and destigmatise the topic.
Ricebox Studios was set up by 4 creators, one of which was Maria. All the creators met in a graphics class while studying for their degrees. They bonded over their love to talk about different topics. One of these topics was how they could tackle inequalities. They thought about helping many injustices, such as human rights violations. So, they decided to use their skills to do something about it!
In an interview with Bolder, Maria said: “Right now, tech is used by the wrong people for the wrong reasons. The tools themselves are not the problem, it’s how people make and use them”. Because of this, they hope to become a bridge between different fields to help build a better future.
Conclusion
Maria’s work and the work of Ricebox Studios highlight important topics. Tech tools will continue to grow in popularity and become a part of our daily lives. Tech such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). There’s no stopping them, but we can focus on how to use them for good. So, how will you use technology to build a world you want to see?
Where Can I Learn More?
You can find out more about Ricebox Studios on their website. You can also hear more from Maria on our Stemettes Say What? Podcast episode, where she discusses what’s next for tech.
